


Vanquishing Villainy One Swing At a Time

by Kaerra, roxyryoko



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Post Annette/Felix's B Support, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), You're just the evilest of villains!, gotta punch that pent up anger out, teen jealousy and obliviousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24785548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaerra/pseuds/Kaerra, https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyryoko/pseuds/roxyryoko
Summary: Felix Hugo Fraldarius had no right to spy on her as she sung and had even less right to not wipe the event from his memory! Filled with rage, Annette attempts to blow off steam practicing spells in the training room, but blasting training dummies just doesn't sedate her anger. Luckily, Caspar has a strategy to wallop the fury out.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Caspar von Bergliez & Annette Fantine Dominic
Comments: 14
Kudos: 64





	Vanquishing Villainy One Swing At a Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [animeshen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/animeshen/gifts).



> Happy Birthday [AnimeShen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/animeshen/pseuds/animeshen)!

Annette Fantine Dominic had been raised to call out injustice where she saw it, and her latest attempt had blown up spectacularly in her face.

“Villain!” she muttered angrily, stomping down the second floor hallway of the student dormitory.

She had a right to her privacy, didn’t she? A right to keep her extracurricular activities like singing and dancing entirely to herself, without that sanctity being invaded by a stupid, grumpy swordsman. And then having that happen, coupled with his refusal to respect her wishes to forget what he’d seen… it was too much! Annette had done his chores, offered to cook him food, and all for nothing.

“I hate him so much,” she said through gritted teeth. “I could just break something!”

Her rage was so intense, Annette almost tripped partway down the stairs. Well, she was a force of destruction even when she didn’t try to be—maybe now was the right time to channel that anger into something positive, like spell practice. Nothing like fury for a solid magical focus.

With that course of action decided, Annette exited the stairs with only a minor crash against the railing, and a new bruise on her thigh. Turning to the left, she started the trek to the training grounds.

It was early evening, and most of the Academy students were still in the dining hall, which is why she’d picked that time to confront Felix about keeping his knowledge of her music to himself. He was always late to dinner from the hours spent training. So, he’d go eat now, and she’d have the entire training grounds to herself. Perfect all around.

Five minutes later, Annette stormed into the empty space, cheering that it was all hers for the time being. She quickly set up a row of dummies for spell casting purposes, and started warming up with her stand-by Wind spell, then a few Cutting Gales, which took the dummies’ heads clean off.

“Take that!” Annette said, pumping her fist. A little of her fury leached away.

She could almost understand why so many of the Academy males spent half of their lives in this place. If only the staff made them bathe more often, though—the place reeked of the acrid combination of sweat, old leather, and weapon maintenance oil.

Wrinkling her nose, Annette positioned herself in the middle of the room, facing down the dummy that would face her unpracticed Sagittae spell. It was farther up the spell tree than her current qualifications to use in battle, and technically, she wasn’t supposed to practice it on her own. But seeing as no one was around…

Annette formed the glyph for Sagittae, feeling the magical energy traveling through her core, tingling through her body, and pushing out her fingertips. A blast of magical arrows formed and flew straight towards the target—then veered past it, clipping the right part of the dummy, while the rest headed straight for one of the double doors to the training grounds.

“Oh no!” Annette shouted.

At that moment, the left door opened, and Caspar jumped several feet in the air as the rest of Annette’s spell barreled into the other door, next to his head.

“WHOA!” he roared, and covered his ears with his hands as chips of wood and specks of masonry rained down upon him. 

Annette’s heart leapt to her throat. Great! Just another mistake to add to her ever growing tally. As if Felix catching her mid-song wasn’t the greatest, most foolish error of her whole sixteen years, now she almost killed Caspar.

After several agonizing moments of remaining protectively hunched over, he sidestepped around the debris and belted a whistle. 

“Oh boy, that was a close one,” he said, but his tone remained absent from blame, instead ringing with exultation. He spun back around and grinned broadly. “Good thing I’m so quick on my feet, huh? Anyone else might have lost their head!”

Apologies flooded out of Annette’s lips as she ran towards him. “I’m so, _so_ sorry, Caspar! I shouldn’t have been practicing that spell! That was so foolish! I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”

“Hey, now, Annette. Cmon, calm down. It’s not that big a deal. It’s the training room. Stuff like this happens all the time.” He recoiled as she attempted to brush dirt from his shoulder, adding ruefully, “If anything, I should have entered with more caution. Tell you what, you don’t tell anyone, I won’t tell anyone. Last thing I need is the Professor berating me for being reckless again.”

Annette pursed her lips. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should have Manuela look you over. The whiplash from that spell can cause concussions.”

Now, clearly vexed, he scoffed, “I’m fine! Cmon, I’m tougher than that.”

“All right,” Annette relented. “But again, I’m really sorry.”

Caspar shrugged before stepping deeper into the room. He drew one arm across his chest and pressed his palm into his elbow, stretching his shoulder out as he made his way to the rack of axes. 

“So what’s up, Annette?” he inquired, switching arms. “Don’t usually see you in here at this time of day. Or much at all, really.”

He lifted one of the training axes off its perch, appraising its blade and long handle before returning it, dissatisfied. Another was soon in his grasp and seemed more favorable. He tested it with a few quick swings and turned back to Annette, swirling the blade in circles.

Annette’s eyes fell to the reckless rotations, morbidly mesmerized. Caspar was always so confident, without even trying. Maybe if she was a bit more sure of herself then stupid Felix Hugo Fraldarius wouldn’t rile her up with his eavesdropping and peeping. But still! That villain needed to acquire some manners!

When she didn’t answer, Caspar pressed. “Somethin’ happen?”

“Um,” she muttered, veering her gaze away from the axe and back up to Caspar’s curious eyes. “I just have a little bit of steam I need to work off. That’s all.” She clenched her fingers into tight balls at her side. “But it’s not really working. I’m still really, really mad!”

The axe stopped spinning and Caspar pointed it in her direction. “Well, duh! Cuz you’re doing this whole thing wrong! Fancy stuff like magic can’t help you out! You need to punch that anger out! Let it all loose! Put your whole body into it. Sock all that fury and frustration into something, really rail it out until your muscles ache and your knuckles bleed!”

Annette frowned. “I don’t know if I want aching muscles or bleeding knuckles.”

Caspar whirled back around to the weapon rack and plucked another axe off. He scrutinized it briefly and then tossed it at Annette. She jumped away, wary of the blade as it pinwheeled across the sand, but it slowed to a stop a considerably safe distance away from her original position.

“No bleeding knuckles,” he assured with a grin. “Can’t promise your muscles won’t ache though.”

Annette blinked down at the weapon. Slowly, she bent down and picked it up. The handle felt strange under her fingers and she momentarily lurched forward under the foreign weight. 

“I guess I’ll give it a shot. Maybe swinging this around really will relieve some stress.”

She began to scurry over to one of the dummies, raising the axe clumsily above her head, when Caspar stepped in front of her.

“Hold up, Annette,” he called, bringing her to a halt. “You gotta fight a real opponent. When my blood’s boiling, stationary targets just don’t cut it. I gotta get out there and wallop some sense into people, you know? You need something that’s gonna fight back!”

Annette gawked. “You want _me_ to spar _you_?” she gasped.

“Yup!” Caspar grinned. “Trust me! This will do the trick. I guarantee it!”

He came up beside her, adding, “But first, you gotta fix your grip. You’re not chopping wood, you’re chopping people. Shift your hand up towards the head. You can’t afford to be that slow in a real fight.” 

His fingers wrapped around her own and slid them up. A slight spell of deja vu overcame her as she remembered the hand position from sessions with her father, yet despite the countless times her father had adjusted her grip, she never felt anxiety like this. A bubble of panic or embarrassment or _something_ somersaulted in her stomach, and she became acutely aware of how calloused Caspar’s fingers and palms were. And just how warm his skin was. To her relief, Caspar seemed oblivious to the blush caused by his unwarranted touch. 

“There you go!” he announced, pulling away. He sunk down into a crouch, readying his weapon. “Now you’re all set. Just keep it like that and let’s get going!” 

They exchanged several passes, Annette’s swings missing easily while he landed a few light attacks with the butt of his axe. She grimaced, aware he was going easy on her, and took a large swing, which Caspar sidestepped. A second later, she found her axe head pinned to the ground near his foot, and the back of his own at her throat.

“Ugh, I’m not good at this!” she grunted.

“Don’t say that! You had some great power with that strike, you just gotta know when to use it,” Caspar said, stepping back into his stance. “You got this, Annette! Try again, and don’t forget to shout out your frustration when you strike. It really makes a difference!”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

Annette’s focus was so intent on her partner, she barely remarked the groan of the door opening behind her. Caspar surged forward, brandishing the head of the axe over his right shoulder, handle level with the ground, and jabbed at her with the top of the shaft, a savage roar accompanying the action. Annette cleared the strike by swinging the butt of her axe up and pushing it aside. Despite the parry, his weight still barreled into her, rocking her back. A belated shout stuttered from her throat, a poor attempt to match Caspar’s ferocity.

“Come on! Louder, Annette!” he howled encouragingly as he jumped back.

Leaving her no time to recover, he took advantage of her lost equilibrium, cleaving the blade towards her head. Pure instinct puppeted her arms as she countered by swinging the axe forward to meet his. Suddenly, she remembered a piece of advice from her father about fighting a stronger opponent: redirect their power instead of fighting it. 

Feeling the force of his strike starting to overpower her, Annette pulled the head of her axe back towards her face, and slipped the back forward and up into the space between the shaft of Caspar’s axe and his body. She twisted sideways, letting the power of his strike push her to the side. With him off-balance, she placed the end of the shaft over his forearm and wrenched.

“Stupid villains all deserve to lose!” she roared, picturing Felix’s face.

Caspar’s grip loosened, and the axe dangled ominously before the head hit the ground with a resounding clunk. Caspar and Annette both gaped at the sight of her axe blade staring him in the face.

“Awesome, Annette!” he crowed. “That was an amazing disarm! See what happened when you moved your grip? And that battle cry was perfect!”

She grinned, satisfaction coursing through her veins. “I can’t believe that worked!”

“Not bad,” she heard a sardonic voice say, and all of her joy transmuted to irritation.

She whirled around and tightened her grip on the haft when she saw the invader was Felix, of all people. Gah! What was _he_ doing here? She knew for a fact he ate late before coming back to the training grounds. Unless… had she been there long enough that he’d finished?

Felix sauntered down the stairs onto the sandy ground, barely flicking a glance at them, the scoundrel.

Caspar noticed her distraction, and turned to greet the intruder. “Hey, Felix!”

“Caspar,” Felix nodded.

He dropped his leather duffel on the ground and undid the lacing, pulling out a training sword. Annette realized she was staring, and returned her focus to Caspar, who was actually kind and worthy of her attention.

Maybe a little too kind.

“Wanna spar with me and Annette?” Caspar asked, excitedly.

She shot him a panicked look, and he blinked in confusion.

“Axes, huh?” Felix said, stretching his arms behind his head. “If you’d wanted to spar, Annette, you should have said so earlier.”

“Thanks all the same, but I’m finished,” she said. “Caspar really knows the axe, and I learned a lot.”

“Is that so?” Felix asked, his expression unreadable. The set of his shoulders tightened when he lowered his arms.

“It was nothing, Annette!” Caspar beamed. “But I bet you could take him.”

Felix smirked, and for a moment Annette was sorely tempted to knock it off his face. But she had wasted enough time in his presence today.

“Oh no, I’m fine,” she said airily. “Wouldn’t want to slow down the training regimen of a villain.”

“A villain?” Caspar blinked, and his face paled. “Oh...”

Annette flashed a smile that showed her teeth, and made a little bow. Then she walked towards the weapons rack to return her axe. Behind her, she was gratified to hear Felix sounding a bit tetchy. 

“Are we going to spar or not, von Bergliez?”

She strolled around the guys getting into position, amused by the weight of their collective gazes as Felix pretended not to pay attention to her, and Caspar watched her with a concerned look on his face. Just before reaching the short staircase up to the door, she grinned at Caspar.

“Thanks again for the help, Caspar! Let’s spar again some time!”

He returned her smile. “Sure thing! Have a good night!”

Head held high, she turned around and strode out the door. Felix’s irritated expression was more than satisfying. Maybe she ought to train more often. Nothing felt better than defeating a villain without needing a weapon.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Follow us on our twitters for [Kaerra](https://twitter.com/Kaerra3) and [Roxyryoko](https://twitter.com/roxyryoko)!


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